Deal with the Reaper
by DannyFenton123
Summary: Becoming a half ghost was not the work of fate. Somebody merely interrupted the Grim Reaper in the middle of their reaping, but when Grim tries to set things right they find a much more appealing alternative.
1. Portal Accident

**This story starts at season 1 for both cartoons. Enjoy!**

Grim settled down at the breakfast table opposite from Harold and pulled out part of a list from their robe. "Ah, nothing like reading me list of the soon-to-be-deceased."

Harold blinked, and began folding up their newspaper. "You have a list of dead people?"

"Soon to be dead people." The Reaper flashed a crooked smile. "Want to have a look?"

"Nope, I'm fine! Ignorance, ignorance is bliss." Harold jumped up and quickly walked away, leaving Grim alone. They shrugged and looked back at the list, quietly musing to themselves.

"Hmm... an assassination, that sounds cool. And one dude set to fall off a ladder in five minutes; I wish I could see that!" They sighed. "Now I remember why I don't look at this thing anymore. All these deaths to see, but the last time I paid a visit-"

"Oh Gri-im!" The Reaper's hollow eyes drooped.

"These two kids happened. What is it, Billy?"

"Can you help me eat this tree?"

"Come again?"

"Can you help me eat this tree?"

Grim groaned. "I should have known I heard it right the first time round. Just give me a minute, Billy!"

They looked fondly back at their list. "Those were the good old days. Back when I could personally reap the souls of all the portal accident victims I want, and now- hang on a minute, a portal accident victim?!"

"Grim!" There was a shout from the bathroom. "Get your bony butt over here; the toilet's clogged and I can tell it's Billy's fault!"

"Just a second, Mandy!" Grim stood up, scrutinising the victim on the list. They had less than a minute left to live, but all it said was 'portal accident'. "Come on, can't you be more specific? What's a portal accident?"

"Gri-im?" Billy called. "This tree won't eat itself, hehe! Grim! Grim Grim Grim Grim Grim Grim-"

"Grim, come over here right now. Don't make me use The Watch."

"Not The Watch!" Grim pulled at their hood in despair, looking from the list up to where the bathroom was located. "Argh, just one minute you guys! Forty-three seconds!"

"Get over here, _now_."

"Grim Grim Grim Grim Grim-"

Finally the Reaper made a decision. Knowing they would regret this later, they summoned their scythe and cut a hole in the air, creating a gateway to the scene of this all-too-intriguing portal accident.

Mandy watched them slip through with a cool glare, and brought up their watch. "Alright, Grim. You're going to regret this."

~Line Break~

"Hang on," Sam stepped forwards and ripped a picture of Jack Fenton's face off of Danny's jumpsuit. "You can't go walking around with that on your chest."

Danny nervously rubbed the back of their neck. "Heh, right." They turned towards the portal. "Here goes..."

The boy stepped into the portal, trailing their fingers along the side, looking around at all the glowing blue lines so heavily contrasted by the shadowy darkness. It did indeed look operational, with not a loose wire or dented panel in sight. Maybe it didn't work simply because there was no such thing as a Ghost Zone?

I mean, that was what Danny and Jazz had been trying to tell their parents all along. But sometimes Danny wondered what it would be like if ghosts actually existed. What if this machine actually worked? What would be on the other side?

As Danny thought about this, their hand unintentionally brushed over the 'ON' button in the portal. A beep brought them back to attention, and they quickly realised their mistake.

Before the boy had time to wonder what kind of person would put an on button inside a portal, the entire machine lit up in a blaze of blue. Danny felt like they were burning from a sudden wave of heat – no, not burning. _Vaporising_.

They screamed for a long time, even after the agonising pain died away to be replaced by a chilling numbness. They only stopped when they felt a finger poke their shoulder.

"Hello? Hello? Look, I know you just died and all but I'm on a bit of a time limit here."

"Wha-" Danny turned and saw what appeared to be a skeleton in a dark robe, holding a scythe. They immediately started screaming again.

The skeleton rolled their sockets. "Oh, shut up." A watch wrapped around their right wrist bones suddenly lit up green. "And you too, Watch! Let a Reaper do his job for once in a while!"

"Wait, you're the Grim Reaper?" Danny's eyes widened. "Wait, I'm dead?"

The boy held up a hand to inspect. In the swirling green light of the middle of the portal, they saw the jumpsuit had turned silvery and emitted a ghostly glow.

The Reaper laughed darkly, twirling their scythe. "Yes, my boy. I've come to reap your soul!"

Their watch began beeping slowly.

"Wait!" Danny put their hands up. "I don't want to die yet!"

"That's what they all say. Give me one good reason I should let you live." The Reaper cackled, advancing.

"Uh... I'm too young to die?" The boy backed up against one of the portal walls.

The skeleton raised their scythe above their head, their watch flashing red and beeping incessantly. "I've heard that one a million times. Now it's curtains for you, Danny Fenton!"

Danny shut their eyes tightly as the scythe came down.

"Ahaha, hahaha, _haha_ \- wait, what? Noooooo-!"

Hearing this, Danny opened their eyes and then gasped at what they saw. The Grim Reaper's scythe was impaled in their abdomen, the point sticking out of his back. For some odd reason, it didn't hurt and the actual Reaper was nowhere to be found.

"Uhhh..." Danny looked around, rubbing the back of their head. "You, um, left something! Hello?"

After a moment, the scythe faded away. Danny stretched and poked at where it had been, but it was almost as if it had never been there. They noticed their glowing hand again.

 _Weird_. Were they dead? Were they a ghost? They barely had time to think about this before they became aware of a voice calling their name from one end of the portal.

It sounded like Sam.


	2. Ghost in the House

**Thanks to Judaiandjohan for Beta reading!**

"See, this is what happens when you leave your best friends alone." Mandy crossed their arms at a crumpled figure lying at the bottom of a tree. "They die."

"Mandy, strictly speaking Billy isn't dead. Trust me, I would know."

"Not yet. But how is Billy going to chew their food when they've lost all their teeth biting that tree? They're going to slowly shrivel up and die of starvation, and it'll be entirely your fault."

"Well what am I supposed to do about that, huh? I can't make teeth appear out of thin air."

"No." Mandy glared at their 'best friend'. "But I can definitely make you regret ever disobeying me again. Go do the dishes!"

Grim sighed. "Awww, I hate the dishes!"

"And stand behind that window, where I can keep an eye on you. Go!"

"Fine." The Reaper went inside and grabbed an apron, grumbling about Mandy with words a little too colourful to mention here.

They turned on the tap, looking out the window at the blonde-haired girl who was still glaring at them. "Ohhh, you kids. One day I'll have my revenge, mark my words!" Grim began scrubbing the plates. "These chores; they're totally demeaning! I am the Grim Reaper, for goodness sake. I should be out reaping souls whilst my minions do this dirty work!"

A worrying thought struck Grim as they rinsed the bubbles off. "That Danny Fenton. I hope I properly reaped his soul before Mandy interfered. If I didn't..." They sneaked a glance out of the window and saw Mandy was still glaring at them, unblinking. "Ahh, I can't check whilst those two are keeping such a close eye on me. But, well, I'm sure it's okay! I'll check when I have the chance, but I bet that boy is safe and sound in the realms of the dead by now!"

~Line Break~

"Danny?" Danny frowned as they saw Sam step forward, a strange frown on their face. "Is... is that you?"

"It's me, don't worry!" They quickly reassured their friends. "You won't believe what just happened!"

Tucker pointed. "Dude, you look like a ghost!"

"Oh my god, this is all my fault!"

"No, Sam, Tuck, it's okay! I'm- wait, I'm sinking!"

"Danny!" Sam and Tucker rushed to pull Danny back up. Danny's legs, which had turned an eerie shade of blue, turned back to the black-and-white glowing jumpsuit.

Danny shuddered. "Okay, this is weird. We need to get out of this lab before anything else happens!"

They floated towards the stairs, Danny's friends doing a double take before following. The ghost touched down in the kitchen, where they saw Jazz reading a book.

"Hey, Jazz. Have you seen Mom or Dad around?"

Jazz lowered their book. "Danny, were you in the- whoa!"

"Jazz?" Danny frowned at their sister's shocked reaction, before looking down at themselves. "Oh. Whoops."

"It's a ghost!" Jazz jumped up. "You are a ghost, right?"

"Maddie!" There was a shout from somewhere in the house. "Did you hear that? Somebody said ghost!"

Sam rushed up in front of Danny. "No, no, it's, uh, not what you think Jazz! This is..."

"Bill!" Tuck supplied. "Or should I say Inviso-Bill, hehe."

"Tu-uck!"

"Oh." Jazz frowned. "Wait, then why are you glowing? And why are you floating?"

"Gotta go!" Sam shoved Danny up the stairs, acutely aware of Jazz staring at them right up until they were out of sight.

"Oh my god, it is a ghost." Jazz breathed, and then began walking in the opposite direction. "Mom, Dad...!"

Meanwhile, the three friends had reached Danny's room. Danny phased through the door before Sam and Tucker had a chance to open it.

"Whoa." Danny looked down at their feet. "This is so cool!"

"Can you do backflips?" Tucker grinned.

Sam crossed their arms. "Guys, wait. This is kind of serious."

"Sam, calm down! Danny's fine, look at them!"

"I am looking at them. They look like a ghost! And if they're a ghost that means they're... you know, and it's all my fault!"

The room fell silent, Danny floated down to earth, rubbing the back of their neck.

"Sam," The ghost started. "It's not your fault. I was the one who went in the portal, remember?"

"Yeah you were, dude."

"Shut up, Tuck! But seriously, look at all the cool stuff I can do!" They did a flip in midair. "I can fly, kinda! If this is being a ghost, then I don't see the problem with it at all!"

Before Sam could reply, there was an interruption.

"It went this way!" There was a stomping of feet behind Danny's door before Jack broke it down, blaster in hand. Maddie and Jazz followed behind.

Sam gasped and turned to Danny, but they'd completely disappeared. Jack was aiming the blaster around with their eyes narrowed.

"Alright Inviso-Bill, come out so I can tear my very first ghost apart molecule by molecule!"

"Jack, dearie, we need to save at least some of it for examination." Maddie turned to their daughter."Are you sure you saw something?"

"I did see a ghost!" Jazz protested. "It was glowing... and floating! You believe me, right?"

Jack placed a hand on Jazz's head. "Of course we do, princess. Ghosts are tricky little creatures; easy to spot on your own but nearly impossible to prove you're not crazy if you mention it!"

Jazz sighed, just as something beeped on Jack's waist.

"It's the portal! To the lab, Maddie!"

"To the lab!"

The two sprinted off, leaving Jazz alone. They crossed their arms. "Well, um, I'm going to find Danny!"

Once they left a small voice spoke up from between Sam and Tucker. "Uh oh."

"Danny?" Tucker stuck their hand out and smacked against something solid.

"Ow, my nose!"

"Sorry dude. But that's awesome!" They watched as Danny reappeared. "How'd you do that?"

Danny suddenly dipped forwards and began floating upside down. "I dunno. I just kind of didn't want to be seen, and it happened." They hesitated. "But what are we going to do about Jazz and my parents? They can't see me like this!"

"See." Sam pointed out. "I told you it was a problem."

"Not helpful, Sam... If I could just look normal again-" At that moment, a white ring materialized around Danny's waist. It split in two and travelled up and down Danny's body until they had returned to their normal, human form.

Danny immediately face planted on the ground. "Ow, my nose."

"See." Tucker nudged Sam. "It's like these awesome powers work everything out!"

"I still have a bad feeling about this." Sam watched Danny run up to a mirror.

"Uh, I can't see myself." The boy frowned, then turned to their friends. "But I look normal, right? My hands look normal."

"Yeah." Tucker frowned. "But you can still do cool ghost stuff, right?"

As if to prove this point, Danny's legs went intangible again and began phasing through the floor. Before they could pull them back up there was a shout from the kitchen.

"Mom, Dad! There's a ghost on the ceiling!"

"Great." Sam rolled their eyes. "You're going to drive your sister insane. Cool ghost powers, right?"

Danny brushed themselves off. "There must be a way to stop doing that. Maybe- Sam, is that your phone buzzing?"

Sam backed off, searching their pockets. "Shoot, it's probably my mom... yes, it is. I gotta go Danny, see you tomorrow!"

"It's that time already?" Tucker also started making their way to the door. "I promised I'd be back soon... Don't forget to study for the test tomorrow, Danny!"

Danny waved, and turned to the blank mirror again. "Yeah, I'm sure I'll get plenty of time to study tonight."


	3. Ghosts in the School

**Thanks to judaiandjohan for beta reading!**

"Daniel Fenton, would you stay behind a few minutes?" Danny jumped awake at the mention of their name, rubbing a bit of drool off their chin, and the class sniggered. This didn't last long though; a few moments later the bell rang, and people had much better things to do on their lunch hour.

"Mr Lancer?" Danny fumbled their way up to the front. "Mr Lancer, I know my bad grades were test, but-"

The teacher frowned. "Mr Fenton, you should let me speak first before you tell me you did badly on a test I haven't graded yet."

They rubbed their baggy eyes. "Oh."

"Besides, today's was just a review. The real test is on Friday, three days from now."

"...Oh."

"Mr Fenton?" Lancer knitted their fingers together. "I noticed you looked a little... tired today."

"I did?"

"You fell out of your chair twice, you dropped your pencil a detention-worthy amount of times, and the number of- Mr Fenton? Mr Fenton!"

Danny started. "I'm awake!"

"Clearly. I just wanted to know if there's anything you would like to talk about. Jasmine has been talking about something your parents were doing with ghosts... which may explain why you seem to have had no sleep last night."

"What? There's no ghost portal at my house, I swear!"

"Oh, of course." Lancer rolled their eyes.

"I mean... I was just floating on the ceiling last night."

"Lord of the Flies!" They picked up the phone. "This sounds like something I should bring up with your parents."

"Wait!" Danny was suddenly alert. "By that I meant, I was sleeping, uh, on the roof!"

"And why would you be sleeping on the roof, Mr Fenton?"

The dark-haired boy blinked owlishly.

"I see." They looked over to the window, where Sam and Tucker were waiting. "Very well, I suppose I'll have to get the rest of the story out of Jasmine, later. You're free to go."

Once they were out of the door, Sam grabbed Danny's arm and began leading them to the lunch hall. "Jeez, were you always this cold? You feel like a corpse- oh."

"Thanks." Danny grumbled as they went through the doors and joined the line. "It's probably another stupid ghost thing."

"But you can do flips!" Tucker pointed out. "Man, I wish I could do flips."

Danny glanced at a couple of people in front eavesdropping on their conversation. They grabbed a tray. "Yeah, flips."

With nothing more to say, a strangely awkward silence descended on the three. The last time it had been this quiet was when Sam found out what Tucker had done to their hamster back in middle school... poor little guy.

The line moved slowly, but soon enough they reached the actual serving station. The menu today was a sloppy green substance or a mushy yellow substance – what a choice! Danny found themselves needing a moment to pick their poison.

That was when a strange cold shiver started in the pit of their stomach, working their way up their spine and coming out of their mouth with a gasp as a strange blue wisp. Looking around quickly, they saw somehow nobody seemed to have noticed this little occurrence; if they had, they didn't seem to mind.

But what was that?

A splatting sound took the boy back to reality. "Excuse me," The lunch lady grumbled after depositing a lump of yellow on their tray. "But while you're sitting here daydreaming, I have a line to deal with!"

"Sorry!" Danny backed up and hit somebody.

"Watch it, whoever you are!" The teenager looked over and saw they had knocked into a rather familiar figure from the A-list table.

"Sorry, Dash!"

"You're lucky I'm in a good mood." Dash punched their fists together. "Otherwise I'd show you just how sorry you are!"

Danny felt their hands going intangible. Before they could do anything to prevent an accident, the tray slipped from their hands, turned upside-down in the air and landed right on Dash's shoes.

Dash stared down in shock for a moment, whilst Danny hid their hands in their pockets and began backing off. "Uh, whoops! I just remembered, I've gotta be, uh, somewhere, and-"

Dash grabbed them roughly by the front of their shirt and jerked them upwards. "You are so dead for this- what's your name?"

"Danny Fenton."

"You are so dead for this, Fenton!"

Danny was about to cover their face when they coughed and gasped out another blue wisp. Judging from the footballer's expression, it didn't smell very nice. Dash readied a punch and they turned their face away in preparation.

Instead, a sudden boom and the sound of broken glass caused Dash to drop the teenager to the floor. Danny half picked themselves up to see what the commotion was.

"I am the Box Ghost!" A little floating blue man declared. "Feared master of all things cardboard and square!" They motioned to a green blob flying next to them. "And this is my assistant, Box-trand!"

The blob crossed their arms. "It's Bertrand. Ber-trand!"

"Box-trand!"

"It's-"

"As the first ghosts to make it through the ghost portal, we are going to use the power of boxes to take over your school, and then, your world! Beware!"

As they spoke, boxes from behind the lunch table started glowing green and flew over to the Box Ghost. They then opened up and dumped their contents on the students below, causing chaos. All around Danny people were taking off, screaming and knocking into things in their rush to leave the building.

The teen looked back to see where Sam and Tucker were and saw Tucker pinned under a table. They rushed to help Sam lift it up, but by the time Tucker was free everyone was gone... except for the ghosts.

Tucker turned to Danny. "Dude, you gotta do something!"

They looked up at the Box Ghost, who was laughing loudly in the centre of the room. "What am I supposed to do?"

"You have the ghost thing, remember?"

"You three!" The Box Ghost floated over to them. "Why aren't you running in terror? I am the Box Ghost!"

Danny stood up and stepped forward. "You, uh, need to leave us alone!"

"No!" The Box Ghost crossed their arms and pouted. "This is my school now, and nobody will leave unless I say so!"

"Okay, I guess I'll have to be a little more persuasive." Danny held their hands up and the white rings appeared once again, transforming them into a ghost whilst they tried not to scream; that would probably ruin the intimidation.

The Box Ghost yelped. "It's a halfa!"

"Whatever that is, yeah!" Danny jumped off and floated in front of the Box Ghost. "And you need to- whoooaaah!"

Tucker cringed as their friend pitched forwards and began floating upside down. "Dude, concentrate!"

Bertrand narrowed their red eyes. "You know, this halfa doesn't look nearly as dangerous as the other one. Maybe we can-"

"Maybe we can take him!" The Box Ghost grinned. "With the wrath of my boxes!"

"Yes, that's what I said."

On the ground, Tucker leaned towards Sam. "Danny's done for, aren't they?"

"Ye-ep.

The ghost boy got themselves floating the right way just in time to get a box in the face. It pinned them to the ground, but after a second of struggling they somehow activated their intangibility and flew back up.

The Box Ghost didn't appear to mind. "Beware!" They cried as they opened up a box full of plastic forks and fired them at the ghost boy. Danny, still intangible, simply passed through them.

"Haha, it worked?" Danny returned to normal. "I mean, see? I can, totally, beat you! So go away!"

Though the Box Ghost looked a little subdued, Bertrand was less than impressed. "Let me handle this, boss."

The green blob shot down towards the ground, spinning, and landed as a large green wolf. Before Danny could react they leapt up and clamped their jaws around the ghost boy's leg.

"Danny!" Tucker grabbed a tray and began running to their friend's aid. Danny, in the meantime, was pinned to the ground by the wolf.

"You're not very good at this, are you?" Bertrand taunted. "I bet you don't even know what you're messing with. There's a world of ghosts out there even more powerful than me, and do you know what they do with kids like you who get in their way?"

"I don't want to get in anyone's way!" Danny struggled in vain. "I just want to get out of here!"

Before Bertrand could answer they suddenly yelped and recoiled, hissing. The wolf turned and revealed a tray stuck in their back, and Tucker backing off sharply. "Dude, gross- actually, a little help here, Danny?"

"Tucker!" The ghost boy grabbed one of Bertrand's paws before they could lunge. The wolf snarled, looking back and forth between the two with bared teeth.

"Let go, kid! You can't stop me, and your little friend can't beat me. What's your next move?"

That was when Sam came in with a trash can and slammed the thing onto Bertrand's head. They backed up, trying to get it off but only becoming further stuck.

"Hah!" Tucker looked to Sam. "That was awesome!"'

The wolf turned intangible and phased through the trash can with a snarl.

Sam pulled their friends up. "Yeah, and temporary. Run!"

"They're getting away." Bertrand, now a green blob again, hissed to the Box Ghost. "Do something!"

As the three friends neared a door, a pile of boxes floated up and blocked their way. Danny grabbed their friends' hands.

"Don't stop, guys, I've got an idea!" They turned intangible, and saw Sam and Tucker did the same. "I hope this works!"

The three braced for impact as they ran through the boxes, but it never came. After a second they opened their eyes and found themselves outside the lunch hall.

"Woohoo!" Tucker grinned. "You two were awesome!"

Danny laughed a little, leaning on a wall as their head swam. They changed back into a human.

"You okay, Danny?"

"I'm fine, Sam. Just a little... wow... tired. But at least we're safe!"

The universe responded to these famous last words in the only way it knew how: a second later, the door to the lunch room burst open and the two ghosts floated out, looking very angry. Danny yelped and tried to run but only succeeded in falling over. Sam and Tucker stood nervously in front of their friend, unwilling to abandon them.

"Well well well," Bertrand grinned. "It looks like you three didn't-"

The Box Ghost interrupted. "It looks like you didn't get far! Nobody can escape the Box Ghost and my corrugated cardboard containers of doom!"

They raised a box above their head in an almost ominous fashion, but a green ray shot from behind Danny struck them in the chest and sent them flying. Bertrand and the three teenagers looked over to see Jack and Maddie standing at the end of the hallway, the latter holding a smoking ecto-rifle.

"Get your hands off my baby boy, you ghosts!" Maddie charged forwards and nailed Bertrand in the face with another shot. Jack followed, holding out what appeared to be a green thermos.

Jack aimed it at Bertrand, who cowered in fear. "Say your last goodbyes, spook!" The thermos whirred, glowed blue... and then clunked and powered down. Before they could get another chance, the ghost turned intangible and began floating through the floor.

"We'll be back." They cackled as they disappeared. The Box Ghost got up a moment later and started to say beware before Bertrand dragged them to safety through the floor.

Danny was still shivering when their mother leaned down and grasped their face. "Sweetie, are you okay? Mr. Lancer called us and said there was a ghost attacking the school, we came as fast as we could!"

"Yeah, I'm fine." They grinned. "Thanks for saving us, Mom."

"Hey, what about me? Jack Fenton?"

Maddie hugged their son to their chest. "I'm just so glad you're alright."


	4. Hide and Seek

"Hey Grim? Hey Grim? Griiim?" Grim, who was raking leaves outside, sighed and turned to the boy.

"What is it, Billy?"

The boy stuck a finger up their incredibly large nose. "Mandy told me she was going home, so I wanted to play with you!"

"No."

"Not even hide and seek?" They pressed. "You can hide in people this time!"

Grim wavered. "Well, maybe if I... Actually no. Mandy told me to do this and thanks to your little best friend vow, I can't disobey."

"But I'm your best friend too!" Billy spread their arms wide. "And I say you have to play hide and seek with me!"

"Billy, that is... surprisingly intelligent." They dropped the rake. "Not it!"

"Aww, I wanted to be not it. Wait, I say you have to be it!"

The Grim Reaper's eye sockets drooped. "And I was beginning to like you for a second there. Fine, I'll count to thirty and you hide."

Billy ran and hid behind a tree, their giggles audible from across the street. Grim put their hands on their bony hips.

"I have one thousand years of experience of hunting down unwilling souls. Do you really think I would miss you hiding behind that tree?"

The boy stuck their head out. "Hey, you're cheating! Count, Grim."

"If you say so." Grim turned their back. "One. Two. Three. Four – I can still hear your laughter, Billy – Five. And six. And seven. And – this is so boring – Eight. Nine..." This went on for a time, until: "Thirty. Oh, look who is behind this tree."

"Wow, you found me!"

"Of course I did." Grim snapped. "What did you expect?"

"Now you hide, and I'll count!" Almost immediately they covered their eyes. "One two three..."

The Grim Reaper cracked their knuckles. "Well, since you seem so set on tormenting me, I'll find meself the best hiding spot on this planet! You'll search high and low, right and left, far and wide, but you'll never find me! Not if you search for a whole life-"

"Thirty!" Billy declared. Grim panicked and hid behind the tree. "Ready or not, here I come!"

They stalked off into the house, leaving Grim to laugh in amazement. "Well, whaddayouknow, this tree isn't such a bad hiding space after all! Not for Billy, at least."

"Grim!" There was a shout from the house. "Where are you!"

"I think this will take a while." The Reaper sighed, and took out today's newspaper. They sat down in the grass. "Well, at least with all these chores Mandy's been giving me, I haven't had a chance to read the obituaries until now."

The Reaper smiled, humming a happy funeral tune as they flipped through the pages. "I wonder how long it'll take for Billy to find me... oh, but look! Death kills thousands – that's me! A scientific study proves 51% of people are a majority. Reported ghost attack in Amity Park- wait, what?"

They read the full article, which detailed an instance of flying people with power over boxes attacking a school. The writer seemed rather skeptical of their own story; they used 'apparently' more than the word 'the' and were quick to point out 'apparently, these ghosts do not show up in photographs'. But Grim knew better. They knew what was going on.

"Oh no." They jumped up and summoned their scythe. "That was the Danny Fenton I visited! I need to get to them before they become too powerful-"

"I found you, Grim!" Billy leaned out of the second story of the house, then jumped into the bushes. They ran over.

"Now is not the time, Billy." Grim held up a hand, fire dancing from within their eye sockets. "If I don't go now, a ghostly evil will grow and spread across the lands, abusing their power to lord over other humans for the rest of eternity!"

Billy raised an eyebrow. "I thought you didn't care about humans, Grim."

The Reaper sighed. "Yes, you're right. I don't want to become the laughing stock of both Wisconsin and Wyoming's part of the underworld." They looked to the boy. "So, can I go?"

"I don't think Mandy would like it." Billy thought. "If there's some sort of death-defying adventure, she'd want to come with! And besides, I really want to keep playing hide and seek."

"What? But-!"

"Now you're it again! It's your turn to count, Grim!" Billy raced off to hide behind a tree, leaving Grim in a very foul mood indeed.

"I loathe you." They muttered under their breath before turning to count to thirty again.

~Line Break~

"A Fenton Thermos?" Danny raised an eyebrow at breakfast the next day. "Why?"

"Danny my boy, this thermos can catch any ghost, no matter how powerful!" Jack scratched their head. "At least, it should. I don't know what's the matter with this thing but it just won't start!"

They pressed a button, and immediately it started beeping urgently. "Self-destruct initiated. Commencing self-destruct in five, four-"

Danny jumped out of their seat, but before the entire block was blown to smithereens Maddie reached over and flipped something. The timer stopped.

"Jack, honestly." Maddie sighed. "You need to stop putting self-destruct buttons in such obvious places on your inventions. It's really not necessary!"

Jack's eyes narrowed. "...Fine. But I'll put them in a secret place, just in case!"

They cracked open the thermos, and little pieces went flying everywhere. Danny watched several plop into their cereal and pushed it away in disgust.

"Sorry, sweetie." Maddie patted their son's back. "Why don't you see your sister – she hasn't come down for breakfast!"

"And she's driving you." Jack added. Danny gulped.

"Jazz?" They called, running up the stairs. "Were you up all night studying again? Because, uh, I don't really want to walk..." They opened their sister's door, then stopped in amazement. "Jazz?"

Jazz's room was a mess of books and loose sheets of paper. All over their bed, all over their floor, and a couple balanced on their fan just for good measure. The sister in question was lying across their desk with a cup of coffee, engrossed in something that looked suspiciously like a diary. Not just any diary...

"Jazz?" Danny frowned. "Is that my-"

Jazz whirled around. "Diary? I know, I just had to borrow it."

"I was going to say journal. So, uh, what are you doing?"

"Mom and dad were right, and I was wrong." Jazz gripped the diary tightly. "Ghosts exist!"

"Yeah, I, um, saw, one at school yesterday." They rubbed the back of their neck, but abruptly stopped when a thought struck them. "Wait, were you up here since two days ago?"

They took a sip of coffee, their hand trembling slightly as they did so. "This was more important. Don't you understand? I was wrong about ghosts! And if I was wrong about this, then what else was I wrong about?"

Danny put their backpack down at the door and waded their way over. "You know, Jazz, everyone's wrong sometimes-"

"I'm not!"

They laid their hand on Jazz's back. "It's part of being human – well, sort of human at least."

Jazz stuck their nose firmly in Danny's diary. The teenager sighed.

"Well, it doesn't look like you're safe to drive anyway. I guess I'll just-" That was when they noticed their hand was glowing blue, and sinking into Jazz. This not being an everyday occurrence for them, they froze up in shock and let themselves get sucked into their sister's body.

"Danny? What were you going to-" Danny's sister abruptly stopped and gave a short head twitch before opening their eyes and looking around.

"Whoa, what happened?" 'Jazz' reached up a hand and rubbed their forehead. "Why do I feel like I've been running on 48 hours of coffee? And my voice..."

They glanced down and noticed their hand, which was very obviously not their own. Its fingers were longer, with neat and pointed fingernails.

"Wait a minute..." Danny jumped off the desk, grabbing their long orange hair. "I'm in Jazz!"

"Jazz, dearie?" Maddie's voice called from below. "Are you okay?"

"I'm... fine, Mom!" They felt their face, squidging their cheeks and pressing their nose. "Oh my god, this must be my ghost powers acting up again! But how do I reverse it? I don't want to be Jazz; I'd flunk all their smart classes and never get to hang out with Sam and Tucker- Sam and Tucker, that's it! I gotta get to them, fast!"

Danny clumsily made their way towards the door (they kept imagining their legs shorter than they were) and grabbed their backpack. "Right, I gotta walk to school as fast as I can; hopefully I can catch them before they go to class..." That was when they caught sight of themselves in a mirror, and a thought struck them. "But right now... I technically am Jazz. And Jazz has a driver's licence."

With a mischievous smile, they felt in their pockets for Jazz's key to the Fenton RV and skipped downstairs.


End file.
